NEW YORK — Late in the second quarter of Sunday night’s game at Madison Square Garden, with the lead slipping away in what would eventually be a 110-107 Warriors loss to the Knicks, Steve Kerr was caught on camera screaming and pointing at Will Richard after a turnover.
The play that set Kerr off saw Brandin Podziemski try to hit the streaking Richard on a breakaway. Podziemski’s outlet was long and sent Richard chasing after it on the sidelines. As Richard fell out of bounds, he threw the ball back inbounds to Podziemski, but the wild pass bounced off his teammate and gave the Knicks possession.
Kerr later said he wished had not been so demonstrative after Richard was involved in a second negative play in a row. OG Anunoby hit a 3-pointer on the next play, and Richard was pulled after Kerr called timeout.
“Will had just gotten an offensive foul pushing off, so i was upset with him,” Kerr said, before adding, “I kind of regret losing my composure, because it’s my job to keep the guys going, especially when we’re without so many players.”
Richard finished with five points and three steals in 29 minutes, including a poster dunk on Anunoby in the third quarter.
The Warriors were down eight players, including Steph Curry, Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton and Kristaps Porzingis. Facing such a talent deficit against a full-strength Knicks team, every turnover stung for the longtime coach.
Kerr also believed that both players involved in the turnover were at fault.
“It was a bad pass from BP, and BP should have made a good pass and Will’s got a dunk and it turns into a five-point swing,” Kerr said. “I was mad at Will because I thought he could have corralled the ball. I thought he was trying to make an around the back pass for a score. I might be wrong.”
The Warriors committed nine turnovers in the second quarter, and saw a 21-point lead whittled down to just nine by halftime. But in the end, Kerr said it was on him as the coach to maintain his composure.
“I probably shouldn’t have gotten as mad as I was,” Kerr said.